I took my last Interrail ticket from Poznań to Toruń, which was stupid, considering it's such a short and cheap journey, and now I would have to buy my Gdańsk-Warszawa ticket. But to be honest once I arrived in Toruń I didn't mind at all. It's so small, and quaint, and mediaeval, that you start thinking you're in the Renaissance and that you're likely to run into Nicolaus Copernicus at the hot bread shop. Copernicus was born in Toruń and by goodness they don't let you forget it. There's a statue, a museum, observatory (the reason I was so excited about Toruń in the first place), all manner of streets, stores and monuments dedicated to the famous astronomer. So first port of call was what is taken to be Mr. Copernicus's house, which has been turned into a museum. Unfortunately nobody is actually sure if this was his house or not, but the Poles don't let the truth get in the way of a good story, or a hefty entrance fee. No pictures were allowed inside, but the house was rustic and sparse in the way of furniture. The rest of the space was taken up with all manner of measuring tools, old astronomy gadgets and other scientific objects.
The other Toruńian obsession, aside from ole Nicolaus, is piernicki, a Toruń style gingerbread spice cookie. Not only can you buy it in all the stores but there is a piernicki museum where you can learn all about the elaboration of this delightful sweet and even make some yourself. Of course, I was all over that! The tour was supposedly in English, but as the only non-Polish in the tour group, in the end it was about 90% in Polish. Who cares, I still got to smell all the spices, grind up the flour (in a stone mill!) mix up the dough, and bake it into a rock hard, completely inedible print of guess who's face? If you thought of a famous scientist, you wouldn't be far wrong.
Next stop after the piernicki was the observatory. I love observatories, I really wish they were as common as cinemas as they are just as entertaining and a million times more informative. I sat in on the English show (was in English this time, thankfully) and enjoyed every second.
Off to my hotel to rest then, I had chosen a not extremely cheap but very comfortable hotel, trying to make up for my lack of sleep the previous nights! I went out with my book after dinner for some mulled wine, and then tucked up into bed.
John arrived the next day, but before I got a chance to catch up with him I found an absolute hidden treasure. I had heard there were some Teutonic ruins in Toruń so I went to check them out. I hesitated when paying the entrance fee; I like ruins and all, but why was I paying to see a pile of old bricks? Once I got inside though, I couldn't stop laughing. There was a totally cheesy "reconstruction" of life in Teutonic times, within the ruins! First up, the gallows:
The mess:
The bedroom:
And, cheesiest of the cheesy, the dungeon:
The dungeon is really the highlight of the whole ruin. I walked gingerly, alone, into the murky shadows, peering to see in the dark, and when I began to make out the horrendous dummies in the picture, I suddenly heard a long, deafening cackle. "BWA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!". I jumped about a metre in the air and screamed like the defenceless blonde girl in every horror flick. Along with the cackle came fake smoke to complete the experience. After I got over my shock I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer tackyness of it all. When I met up with John later that evening I recommended it to him highly as a Toruń must-see.
That night I met up with John to go out for dinner and take a night boat ride along the Wisła. However, an extraordinarily large pizza derailed our plans:
By the time John got through that monstrosity, we had missed the boat and consoled ourselves taking pictures of the Wisła by night:
before heading back to our hotels for bed.
The next day, we just took in some regular Toruń sights, like the Toruń dragon:
The Toruń equivalent of the pied piper of Hamelin:
Apparently the violinist in the fountain is Janko Muzykant. The story goes that a witch visited Toruń and the villagers did not welcome her, so she cast a spell that Toruń be invaded with frogs (if you squint you can make them out in the picture). The town mayor offered a sack of gold and his daughter to whoever rescued the city from the plague (let's ignore the overt misogyny for a moment). After a little while, a peasant appeared and started to play his violin; the frogs were enchanted and followed him out into the forest and Toruń was saved.
Also we checked out the bird's eye view of Toruń from the top of the cathedral:
We stayed that night in Toruń, had some Okocims and dinner, but early the next morning it was time to head up to north Poland - final destination Gdańsk, but with a very important stopover: Malbork Castle.
The other Toruńian obsession, aside from ole Nicolaus, is piernicki, a Toruń style gingerbread spice cookie. Not only can you buy it in all the stores but there is a piernicki museum where you can learn all about the elaboration of this delightful sweet and even make some yourself. Of course, I was all over that! The tour was supposedly in English, but as the only non-Polish in the tour group, in the end it was about 90% in Polish. Who cares, I still got to smell all the spices, grind up the flour (in a stone mill!) mix up the dough, and bake it into a rock hard, completely inedible print of guess who's face? If you thought of a famous scientist, you wouldn't be far wrong.
Next stop after the piernicki was the observatory. I love observatories, I really wish they were as common as cinemas as they are just as entertaining and a million times more informative. I sat in on the English show (was in English this time, thankfully) and enjoyed every second.
Off to my hotel to rest then, I had chosen a not extremely cheap but very comfortable hotel, trying to make up for my lack of sleep the previous nights! I went out with my book after dinner for some mulled wine, and then tucked up into bed.
John arrived the next day, but before I got a chance to catch up with him I found an absolute hidden treasure. I had heard there were some Teutonic ruins in Toruń so I went to check them out. I hesitated when paying the entrance fee; I like ruins and all, but why was I paying to see a pile of old bricks? Once I got inside though, I couldn't stop laughing. There was a totally cheesy "reconstruction" of life in Teutonic times, within the ruins! First up, the gallows:
The mess:
The bedroom:
And, cheesiest of the cheesy, the dungeon:
The dungeon is really the highlight of the whole ruin. I walked gingerly, alone, into the murky shadows, peering to see in the dark, and when I began to make out the horrendous dummies in the picture, I suddenly heard a long, deafening cackle. "BWA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!". I jumped about a metre in the air and screamed like the defenceless blonde girl in every horror flick. Along with the cackle came fake smoke to complete the experience. After I got over my shock I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer tackyness of it all. When I met up with John later that evening I recommended it to him highly as a Toruń must-see.
That night I met up with John to go out for dinner and take a night boat ride along the Wisła. However, an extraordinarily large pizza derailed our plans:
By the time John got through that monstrosity, we had missed the boat and consoled ourselves taking pictures of the Wisła by night:
before heading back to our hotels for bed.
The next day, we just took in some regular Toruń sights, like the Toruń dragon:
The Toruń equivalent of the pied piper of Hamelin:
Apparently the violinist in the fountain is Janko Muzykant. The story goes that a witch visited Toruń and the villagers did not welcome her, so she cast a spell that Toruń be invaded with frogs (if you squint you can make them out in the picture). The town mayor offered a sack of gold and his daughter to whoever rescued the city from the plague (let's ignore the overt misogyny for a moment). After a little while, a peasant appeared and started to play his violin; the frogs were enchanted and followed him out into the forest and Toruń was saved.
Also we checked out the bird's eye view of Toruń from the top of the cathedral:
We stayed that night in Toruń, had some Okocims and dinner, but early the next morning it was time to head up to north Poland - final destination Gdańsk, but with a very important stopover: Malbork Castle.
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